Issues in the laboratory study of human sexual response: A synthesis for the nontechnical sexologist

Abstract

Laboratory‐based research on sexual response constitutes a significant component in the current overall effort to understand human sexuality, and therefore it behooves the contemporary sexologist to understand the value and limitations of this approach. This paper describes the broadening scope of sexual psychophysiological research over the decades. The strengths and unique contribution of this approach are delineated, with examples of how it has modified thinking about normal human sexual response, sexual dysfunction, and sexual deviancy. Factors that currently limit the impact of laboratory‐based research are presented, including those that are external to the lab and not under the experimenter's control, those that arise from the laboratory session itself, and those relating to the generalization of data from the lab to real world situations. Ways in which such factors diminish the efficacy of the laboratory study of sexuality are identified and, where possible, strategies are suggested that might offset their impact.